There's Blood in my Tea
by PurpleCrocodile
Summary: Inspired by Alice and wonderland. An eerie mansion provides an interesting backdrop for the young meister & weapon and their developing relationship. This is my first fanfiction, so any critique or feedback is very welcome. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

A/n: Inspired by Alice in Wonderland and Soul Eater.

Chapter One

A cold moon dripped blood into the mist which blanketed the frosty ground. The young meister trod quietly down the mansion's path, her emerald eyes carefully processing her surroundings. A young man followed behind her, white hair gleaming in the pale moonlight.

"Oi Maka, what's the story with this place anyways? Stein didn't include much of an explanation with this assignment." Her blonde head turned slightly, but her eyes continued to scan the eerie courtyard as they made their way up the cobblestone path overgrown with blackened weeds.

"How do you expect me to know, Soul? I didn't get any more information from stein than you did?" A grin split Souls' face as he answered, snickering.

"Because you're such a nerd, it only makes sense that you would've read something about it already."

A vein popped in Maka's forehead, but she decided to let this one pass. It was dangerous enough here without having to worry about dealing book blows to her idiotic partner.

"Alright dumbass, I'll fill you in" growled Maka "This mansion used to be home to a very prestigious English family. They were apparently quite successful and happy, but then something happened to their youngest daughter-" Maka paused, her jade eyes snapping to a window on the top floor of the mansion.

"Maka, what is it?" Soul stared at Maka for a moment in confusion, his eyes following hers to the window. For the briefest moment a pale figure seemed to flit past the window into the gloom beyond.

"I thought I saw… never mind" Maka shook her head and continued down the path, Soul following behind.

"One day, they had a big party for all the neighboring families, and in all the confusion their youngest daughter, Alice, got lost in the woods." They turned a corner of the path and came up to a weathered stone gazebo, its gray pillars choked by withered rose vines clawing at them. Maka stopped abruptly, staring off into the distance.

"The little girl fell down some sort of hole, and by the time somebody found her, apparently she… wasn't herself."

"What do you mean, Maka?" Maka looked over at Soul, her dark green eyes meeting his iridescent red ones.

"She was crazy, talking only about rabbits and tea-parties. Her family was ashamed, and instead of trying to help the poor kid, they locked her in her room for the rest of her life."

"Poor kid." Soul looked down for a moment, lost in his own thoughts. Maka's fists clenched and a dangerous edge came to her voice

"Yeah, and all it did was make her go even more crazy. The family apparently wasn't the most attentive of folks towards their little daughter, but eventually they noticed that her maid had gone missing, then the girl's butler, then all the servants who attended her. Pretty soon, everyone in the mansion was dead, and anyone who visited the place was never heard of again." Soul sighed and scratched his head.

"Great, so, basically we've come to deal with a murderous little schizophrenic with a people problem. No big deal. But tell me, why exactly are we in the middle of the creepy garden instead of heading inside?" Maka frowned and turned back to the gazebo, stepping up into the tiny shelter.

"I was looking at an old map, and this gazebo showed up as the entrance to some old tunnels underneath the mansion, if I can only find the entrance. I would prefer not to go knocking on the front doors of a haunted mansion; hopefully we'll draw less attention to ourselves this way." Maka groped around under some dusty benches, turning her head to frown at him.

"You could help you know." She said, cocking a pale brow at him, a pout crossing her rosy lips. Soul sighed. _She always has to do that cute pout whenever she wants something done_, he thought to himself with an inwards sigh. Shaking himself, he looked around for an entrance to the tunnel. Maka stepped up onto a dusty bench, stifling a sneeze, looking around the gazebo and her eyes settled on the ceiling.

"Hey Soul, gimme a boost, would you?" said Maka innocently.

"What?" said Soul, and he looked up, only to find his meister flying through the air towards him, her ash blond pigtails sticking out from her head. Soul instinctively threw his arms around the skinny girl and managed not to tumble to the ground. Balancing precariously as he struggled to hold the girl up, he roared

"Maka! What the hell was that?"Maka giggled as she threw her arms out for balance.

"You never would have agreed to give me a boost if I'd given you the time to think, of that I'm sure. Now move over a bit to the right, I need to reach that bit of the ceiling." Soul complied grumpily, mumbling incoherently about fat ankles and bookworms. A sliver of pink tongue peeked out from Maka's mouth as she swayed slightly while pressing her hands to an inlaid stone carving of a crest of arms on the ceiling of the gazebo.

"Hurry up, dumbass! You're not exactly light you know!" grumbled Soul from below her, trying not to look up her plaid skirt.

"And this isn't easy, you know!" she snapped back angrily as she pushed at the crest "If you can't even carry me, maybe you should try some weight training!" The crest pushed in and some muffled thuds came from the pillars. Maka and Soul toppled over as a trapdoor's outline became apparent in the thick coat of dust covering the floor of the gazebo. Maka stared at Soul for a long moment and both their faces grew considerably redder. She jumped off him and hurried over to the trapdoor, brushing her skirt off and blushing furiously. She began heaving at the heavy stone door, sliding it over to reveal a dark tunnel. Soul got to his feet and strolled over, kneeling beside Maka and staring into the darkness below them. Maka grabbed the flashlight from her partner and switched it on. The pair looked down into the tunnel and saw a rough stone slide.

"Looks like it's a slide for the first bit. It'll probably be dark in there, so we'll have to be extra careful. I'll go first." Maka lowered her lean legs into the hole, bracing herself for the drop. Before she could slide down, however, Soul reached for the flashlight and stuck it into his jacket pocket.

"Yeah right" scoffed Soul as he moved towards the edge and began to hoist himself down.

"Soul, let me go first, I'm the meister after all." Maka said, putting her hand on his broad shoulder. Soul grinned like a sickle moon.

"No way, flatso, I wanna see what's down there." With that Soul let go of the edge and dropped down into the darkness. Maka twitched in annoyance, brushing her pigtails into place. "Flatso, that's a new one. He's been even more annoying since we defeated the Kishin." She grumbled to herself, settling down onto the ledge of the tunnel door. _Oh well_ she thought to herself as she slid down the passageway _Soul will be on the Maka chopping block when I catch up with him_.

Maka slid down the cool stone chute for what seemed like eons, but was probably only a few minutes. A slight bump sent her sprawling as she reached the end of the tunnel. Luckily there was something soft to cushion her fall. Maka groaned slightly and shifted her weight as she began to get up.

"Gemmf mmfff meerff frtsoo" mumbled whatever was under her.

"Huh?" said Maka questioningly as she straightened up.

"I SAID GET OFF! THAT'S THE SECOND TIME TODAY YOU'VE SQUASHED ME!" roared Soul in frustration from somewhere under Maka's torso.

"Sorry, sorry, but you shouldn't have been waiting right under where the tunnel ended; it's kinda obvious what would happen." Maka pouted as she brushed herself off. Soul mumbled something incoherent, yet from his tone Maka could tell it wasn't a compliment. She sighed and offered him her hand. Soul grimaced and took it, pulling himself up off the filthy stone floor. He grabbed the flashlight, which had rolled away after he was crushed by his bony meister. He trained its pale beam on the walls and floors as they took in their surroundings. The tunnel was eerie, filled with bones of dead rats, with grimy walls and floor.

"So, what should we do now?" questioned Soul, glancing at his partner "just standing around isn't cool at all." Maka closed her eyes for a moment and relaxed her tensed muscles, concentrating on using her soul perception. Her jade eyes snapped open and she whirled around to face the stretch of tunnel going in the opposite direction.

"I can sense something in that direction. It's not a soul exactly, more like…" Maka cut off, staring into the gaping darkness which stretched out beyond the reach of the flashlight's wavering beam.

"Well, at least it's something. Let's go." Said Soul briskly, handing Maka the flashlight. With that, Soul transformed into a scythe and dropped into the gloved hand of his meister. With one hand on her weapon and the other holding the flashlight, Maka started down the dark path.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The sounds of dripping water echoed throughout the cavernous tunnel, the only other noise the soft pants escaping Maka's mouth and the crunching sounds of her footsteps on the stone floor as she ran towards the strange soul she sensed from further on in the tunnel. Moss covered the sides of the tunnel walls and dust covered the floor, hinting at the infrequency of human visitors to the depths of the underground labyrinth. A lazy curve began in the passageway and a slight rise in the tunnel's pitch. Maka found her arm aching with the effort of carrying Soul one handed. Suddenly she skidded to a stop, beads of seat trickling down her forehead. The tunnel yawned open into a large cavern, its stone walls covered in grime and soot. Maka stepped in cautiously, her eyes roaming the large room. The walls were meticulously carved; showing in great detail scenes of odd creatures and gory battles. Large columns supported the roof, giving the place an air of decrepit grandeur.

"What the hell is this place?" Maka turned to her weapon.

"I'm not sure" she said quietly, turning back to the strange room before them "I don't get why such a beautiful room is sitting in a musty tunnel underground."

A soft flickering sound came from the corners of the room and light flooded the cavern. Torches seemed to light themselves, their fiery glow casting shadows on the sooty walls. A cold ticking came from the centre of the room, its metallic echo causing Maka's eyes to snap to the strange figure before her.

"You're all vey late." wheezed the strange creature, raising its head towards the light so its grotesque features were discernible in the meager torchlight. It was tall and thin, like some sort of demonic beanpole wearing a shredded velvet waistcoat. Its long shaggy hair covered its face entirely and a pair of floppy rabbit ears bent at odd angles on its head. From its scratched hands hung a long silver pocket watch, the source of the strange ticking, swinging back and forth hypnotically. The offbeat result of this eclectic assortment of traits was chilling rather than comical (and would have reduced Death the Kid to tears in seconds.)

"Well aren't you just disgusting" remarked Soul amicably "Is this what you were sensing Maka?"

His meister frowned, her jade eyes narrowing as she stared at the odd creature.

"Yeah. It was never completely human, so I don't know if it constitutes as a kishin egg, but it's definitely evil." Maka squared her shoulders and gripped her weapon more tightly. The pocket watch stopped swinging. The rabbit-man looked up at the pair, his eyes glinting with malice.

"I don't think you two heard" he cackled, trying to restrain his giggles "you two are very, VERY late. My mistress wants some fresh souls after all!"

"Huh" grunted Soul from his weapon form "I don't think he knows it ain't cool to be so obsessed with time."

All the laughter suddenly left his voice and the room was eerily quiet.

"Time to be punished" he murmured softly, an evil grin crossing his cracked lips.

Almost before Maka could react he was sprinting towards her brandishing the pocket watch. She dodged out of the way spinning around as he sped past her. The pocket watch began to grow until it was the size of a car tire with a razor edge on it and spikes protruding from the front and back.

"I definitely want a watch like that" remarked Soul, grinning.

"Let's talk about accessories later Soul. Right now we need to focus on this guy" snapped Maka as she deflected a swing from the pocket watch. The rabbit man giggled maniacally and swung the pocket watch again. Maka rose to block it, but the chain lengthened and twisted, catching Maka's foot. She tumbled to the ground, just managing to scoot out of the way as the pocket watch smashed down on where her head had been a moment ago.

'_Damn.'_ She thought as she jumped up, slashing at the rabbit man '_he's a lot tougher than I thought.' _The rabbit avoided her attack and retaliated viciously, his insanity palpable. Swinging his pocket-watch in a deadly figure eight, he hurtled toward Maka, who dropped out of the way and slashed at the back of his waistcoat. The rabbit man just laughed and whirled around on his tiptoes, laughing.

"It's no use little girl! I'm unbeatable! Nobody has gotten past me in 100 years!" laughed the rabbit man amiably, hiding a grin behind a gloved hand "None of my lady's other companions are as trusted or as revered as I am. After all, I led her down the rabbit hole!" he began to giggle uncontrollably, his body wracked with great shaking spasms. Sensing an opening, Maka closed in silently and slashed the rabbit man across the chest. His expression changed slowly from glee to horror as the slow realization of his defeat crossed his crooked face. He fell to the ground, the pocket watch slipping from his gloved fingers. His eyes twitched as blood began pouring from the open wound in his chest.

"Looks like we're out of time, fluffy" remarked Soul coolly as he changed from weapon form and walked towards the dying creature. The rabbit man giggled, blood seeping from the corners of his upturned mouth.

"Always check the clockwork little fools, you just might find a surprise in there" gurgled the rabbit, his eyes closing as his tainted soul rose from his bloody corpse. Soul walked forwards casually and plucked the soul out from midair, examining it carefully. It was mostly a normal kishin egg, but a greenish tinge was evident as well.

"Maka, is this thing safe to eat? Looks kinda nasty" asked Soul, staring at his meister pointedly. Adjusting her gloves, Maka walked over, examining the soul carefully.

"Yeah! This is a dark-magic kishin egg. I've read about them, they're supposed to be more potent than normal kishin eggs. The greenish tinge is just from the after effects of any magic he had. Soul grinned and gulped down the kishin egg, savoring the interesting flavor and cool sensation as it slid down his throat. A glint of light caught Soul's attention and he bent down to pick up the pocket watch, which had shrunk back to its original size.

"Soul, don't touch it! It might be dangerous-"cried Maka as Soul's fingers closed around the pocket watch. Rapid ticking broke the silence as the watch's hands whirled around its face. Maka ran forwards and pushed Soul away, the watch slipping from his fingers.

"_Bye bye babies_" murmured an eerie voice, emanating from the pocket watch. The room filled with light as the pocket watch exploded, pushing the meister and her weapon out into the dark tunnel.


End file.
